


Lost and Found

by DimensionTripperHanayo, DimensionTripperHomura



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, スロウスタート | Slow Start (Anime)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 19:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16332104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DimensionTripperHanayo/pseuds/DimensionTripperHanayo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DimensionTripperHomura/pseuds/DimensionTripperHomura
Summary: Collab with DimensionTripperHanayo. The future children of Muse stumble across a time artefact and end up back in their parents high school days. Dealing with time travel, a dangerous organisation hunting them and normal teenage drama, they also have to find a way back to their own timeline. Love Live/Slow Start crossover (You can probably read this without having watched slow start). Note: HonoEli is a temporary ship in this.





	Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> Eiko is Maki and Kotori’s child, Tama is Nico and Rin’s child, Hana is Hanayo and Raven’s (OMC you make know from my older fics) child, Hiroe is Honoka and Umi’s and Kamuri is Nozomi and Eli’s child. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Note: HonoEli is a temporary ship in this.

"Everyone listen." Eiko addressed as she stood in the back alley with Hana and the others crowded around her. "The time jumps need one day to recharge. So that's how long we have in this timeline."

Hana nodded, looking at the Time Jump Eiko had strapped on her wrist. Luckily it looked like a normal watch so no one would expect it to be anything else. The only reason they even knew how long to wait was because the watch luckily had a display saying how long it needed to recharge.

"As much as you would love to talk to them, whatever happens avoid. Contact. With. Your. Parents." Eiko explained clearly, still holding onto Kamuri. "That goes for you especially, Ta-...where is Tama-chan?"

"I'm gonna go find me a Nico!" Tama yelled in excitement, already running across the road to the shopping centre.

"I'll go after her." Hana stood up quickly from the alley floor, wiping the dust from her skirt with her hand. She understood why Tama was so excited. She was too. She just wished that Tama could keep her excitement under control. 

"I'll come too." Hiroe added quickly, following Hana out the back alley. She had no idea what her mothers were doing at that minute but she couldn't wait to see the young versions of the two people she loved the most.

Eiko sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She hoped everything was going to be okay but knowing Hana and Tama something would happen. 

Chances were that when Hana accidentally bumps into her father or mother she'll end up freezing on the spot. 

With Tama it was the opposite. She was worried that Tama would openly admit that she was their daughter and completely shatter the timeline. Luckily the time jumps worked on the Multiverse theory so it wouldn't change them or their timeline.

She flinched as Kamuri moved her hand over Eiko's, rubbing it gently. "It'll be okay."

A gentle smile tugged at Eiko's lips as she rested her head on Kamuri's, closing her eyes.

"...Also I'm hungry." 

Eiko chuckled herself, not surprised that Kamuri was. "Okay, let's go get some food and then we check in on our parents."

"Okay."

\---

“Tama-chan, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Hana fretted as she clutched at the hem of her friend’s jacket to keep her from wandering off. They were hiding behind a bookshelf in the library, Hiroe somewhere behind them. The oldest of the three was equally worried about having snuck into Otonokizaka high school, maybe even more so than Hana who had at least managed to stay on her feet. Hiroe had sunk into a crouching position a few minutes ago when someone had accidentally brushed past her. “We shouldn’t even be in here.”

“Why not? We’re wearing the uniforms so nobody will know we don’t go here.” Tama whispered, glancing at Hana. “Don’t worry, Hana-chan. Don’t you want to see them? Come on, they won’t even recognize us. They don’t know us yet.”

“I-I still don’t know.” Hana said hesitantly. Everything about the situation was enough to set her on edge. Truthfully they didn’t even know how they had wound up in the past. They had been huddled around a strange looking watch Tama had found, with a thick leather strap and then they’d all ended up where they were now. In the past, with nowhere to go. “We should be trying to find a way out of here, not talking to our pare...Tama-chan!”

Hana groaned as Tama squirmed away from her, quickly making her way to where Nico, Hanayo, Honoka, Kotori and Eli were sitting. She quickly went to Hiroe, tugging her up from the floor and hurried after Tama as quickly as she could. 

“Excuse me!”

The group of idols sitting at the table looked up at the sound of Tama’s voice. 

“Yeah? What do you want?” Nico asked with a roll of her eyes. “If you want an autograph you can forget about it.”

“Mom…”

Nico’s eyes widened at the softly spoken word. “What did you just…?”

“T-Tama-chan!” Hana reached Tama, gripping her wrist and tugged her back. She forced a nervous laugh. “You really need to stop calling people that when you get nervous. I-It’s embarrassing. Um…” She looked toward the group at the table, focusing on Hanayo who was staring up at her inquisitively. “Um...w-we’re new here. We were just looking f-for the um…”

“Student council room!” Hiroe interjected, her face red. She tried not to look at Honoka but it was impossible. “We um...were looking for that. Can you tell us where it is, please?”

“If you need the student council president for something, I can help you.” Honoka offered, perking up slightly. “Or you might want to ask Eli-senpai. She knows better than I do.”

“You should have more confidence in yourself.” Eli said, shaking her head. “There’s a reason I chose you to be student council president after me, you know.”

Honoka smiled sheepishly at Eli before turning back to Hana, Tama and Hiroe. “You said you were new?”

“Um...yes. A-Anyway, we have to go.” Hana stuttered, gripping Tama’s hand. “I-It was nice meeting all of you.”

“Wait, you didn’t even tell us your names.” Surprisingly it was Hanayo who spoke up, her gaze fixed solely on Hana. “You’re a first year, right? A-And you too?” She looked to Tama who nodded with a bright smile. “And you…”

“Um...third year. I um...had to move schools because my parents moved away for work?” Hiroe replied, her voice higher than usual. “M-My name’s Hiroe.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “Is that your surname?”

“Um...no. F-First name.” Hiroe blushed, nervously wringing her hands in front of her. 

“My name’s Ichinose Hana.” Hana cut in, seeing that Hiroe was struggling. She was too if she was honest. She hated lying. “And this is my cousin.”

“Momochi Tama! You can just call me Tama!” Tama exclaimed brightly, throwing her hand up in her signature pose of a peace sign in front of her eye. 

“She really could be your daughter, Nico.” Eli joked, earning herself a glare from Nico. 

“Um...bye then!” Hana quickly grabbed Hiroe’s hand and hurried away, only letting them go when they were outside of the library. She turned on Tama. “Tama-cha-”

Hana fell silent as the door to the library opened and Kotori stepped through the door. She looked taken aback by the sight of the three of them. 

“Oh. You’re still here.” Kotori said in surprise. “Do you need directions? I would show you to where you need to go but I have to meet my gir...Maki-chan at the park.”

“N-No, we’re fine.” Hana said, forcing a smile to her face. “Just talking about what we’re going to do when school ends.”

“School already ended.” Kotori said with a quizzical look on her face. She shook her head in amusement. “Anyway, it was nice to meet the three of you. If you see me around school come and say hi. I have to go, I’ll see you later.“

Hana breathed a sigh of relief as Kotori turned and hurried away. She waited until Kotori disappeared from view before she turned on Tama. “Tama-chan!”

“What?” Tama pouted in response. “I wanted to talk to them some more!”

Hana sighed in response. She needed someone more mature to help calm Tama down. “We have to find Eiko-chan.”

\---

Eiko stopped short of the ice cream stand with a smile on her face, watching in amusement as Kamuri scanned the shelves of ice cream tubs for the one she wanted.

Her smile faded as she turned to the centre of the park and towards a red haired first year sitting on the bench with her headphones on, one of her arms resting on the back of the chair.

"I'm sorry I'm late Maki-chan!"

Maki didn't reply as Kotori stopped next to her. She couldn't hear anything beside her music. She tapped her pen onto the table in front of her along with the rhythm of the music, trying to think of what words would work best.

Kotori smiled softly at Maki working so hard to think of new songs for them. It was relaxing knowing that she didn't need to worry about the quality of the songs. With Maki, they were always perfect.

Kotori leaned in to the distracted first year, her lips brushing against Maki's soft rosy cheeks for a moment before the red haired idol jolted back in shock.

"Kotori?! When did you get here?" Maki questioned in a panic, her heart still beating quickly. "I told you not to do embarrassing stuff in the outside world."

"I can't help it." Kotori replied quickly, sitting on the wooden bench with Maki. "You're too adorable not to do it to."

Maki turned away, her face burning with embarrassment. "...idiot."

Kotori chuckled to herself as she shuffled along the bench, inserting herself under Maki's raised arm. "That's better. Need any help?"

Maki sighed, letting the small soft smile she was holding back show as she lowered her arm off the back of the chair and onto Kotori's shoulders. "...This is so embarrassing."

Kotori frowned as she quickly moved her hand over Maki's. "Don't move your hand. It's really nice here, with you like this."

"...Fine." Maki replied with a irritated sigh even though she secretly liked it. "You can help me think of lyrics."

Kotori smiled, seeing through Maki's tsundere front. "Okay."

Eiko flinched as she felt something tugging at her sleeve. She looked down to see Kamuri standing by her side, two small tubs of ice cream in her hands.

"Why didn't you get one big one? I did give you enough...right?" Eiko questioned, glancing back at her mothers for a moment. She had always been envious of the relationship her mother had and wished she had something like it. She was happy to see that even in a different timeline they were still in love.

Kamuri shuck her head slowly, holding the strawberry ice cream tub towards Eiko. "I got us both some."

"Aww, thanks." Eiko smiled as she moved behind Kamuri, putting her arms around her like she usually would. "Now let's go look for your parents."

Kamuri shuck her head, looking towards Maki and Kotori. "Let's stay here for a little longer."

Eiko closed her eyes, resting her head on the top of Kamuri's. She was glad to see her parents when they were young but she was happier to see them with Kamuri.

\---

“Where the hell is she?” Nico grumbled to herself, marching through the school’s hallways with the other students she pass snickering at her. At their school, word gets around fast. Now half the school, if not all, knows about Tama calling Nico mom and had been mocking her because of it.

Nico growled as she stopped in front of two girls laughing at her, trying to make it look like they weren’t. “What the hell are you laughing at?!”

“Nothing.” One of the girls replied, trying to hold in her laughter. “Hey, what does it feel like being an elementary student and having a child?”

The other girl flinched as Nico grabbed the laughing girl’s shirt cuff, slamming her back against the wall she was leaning on.

“Say that again? Come on, fucking try me!” Nico scoffed, letting the girl go as she noticed the girl was on the verge of tears. “Whatever…”

“Thank you for the directions…”

“That voice!” Nico smiled widely as she moved quickly away from the girls. She was sure that was Tama’s voice. She turned the corner and frowned in irritation. It was Tama with Hiroe next to her but they were also with Rin. She knew Rin would complain about her yelling at the first and third years but she didn’t care. She was the joke of the school thanks to Tama.

\---

"This way!" Tama announced happily, walking atop a wall with her arms spread out to her sides.

"Are we lost?" Hana questioned, looking around. She looked towards a tree that was bent a little to the left, sure that they had passed that tree before.

"Noooooooo. I know where we are." Tama answered quickly, stopping suddenly at a corner. "This way!"

Hana nodded, following slowly behind the energetic girl. She turned around, noticing Hiroe wasn't talking much.

“Honoka! Slow down!”

Hiroe turned around at the mention of her mother’s name, surprised to see Honoka running ahead of Kotori and Eli. She quickly ducked behind a couple of bushes with Hana and Tama making sure not to be seen by any of the muse members. She had only recently ran into them at the school and didn't want to interact with them for a little while. She had to make sure the timelines remained intact.

“Come on. I want to try the new ice cream shop.” Honoka huffed as she slowed to a stop just in front of the bushes Hiroe and the others were hiding behind. She turned around in time to see Kotori stop next to her breathing heavily. “Are you okay, Kotori-chan?”

“Fine...Just haven’t...done any exercise in a while.” Kotori turned to the side and frowned, sure she heard something in the bushes.

Hiroe and Hana frowned in irritation at Tama’s carelessness as they all huddled together so they wouldn’t be noticed. The first year wasn’t watching where she was standing and stood on a twig.

“Don’t come over here.”

Tama looked up at Hiroe’s pleading, feeling guilt wash over her. She knew they had to be careful but still didn’t pay any attention. “Quack!”

Hiroe and Hana looked towards Tama in states of shock, taking a few moments to even comprehend what Tama did. She pretended to be a duck. At least it wasn’t a gorilla.

“Oh, it’s just a duck.” Kotori muttered to herself before she rejoined the conversation Honoka and Eli were having. She didn’t really know what it was about but she heard Arisa’s name get passed around.

“That...worked?” Hiroe questioned in confusion. Maybe the ashen haired girl had been spending too much time with Honoka.

“I don’t know why I have to hurry. I’m supposed to be meeting with Nozomi soon.” Eli added. She checked her phone for any messages from Nozomi but there were none. “You should invite Hanayo or Rin. They love ice cream.”

“Rin didn’t do the homework and has to stay back during break but Hanayo’s fine.” Honoka explained before she pulled out her phone, sending a text to Hanayo asking if she wanted to do to the ice cream place too.

“Hana. Isn’t that where your parents met?” Hiroe looked down towards Hana and smiled as the smaller girl nodded as a reply, still trying to stay quiet. “We should go too.”

The three girls looked back as they heard Honoka’s phone get a notification, assuming it was Hanayo.

“Great. She says she’ll meet us there.” Honoka’s smile widened as she started thinking about what type of ice cream she was going to get. “Vanilla? Choc chip? Mint Chip? Oh, maybe pineapple.”

“That’s disgusting.” Eli scowled at the thought. What type of monster would put pineapple on top of something as lovely as ice cream. “I don’t think we can be friends anymore.”

“I was joking!” Honoka started pancing before Eli’s phone received a notification. “Is that Nozomi?”

“No. It’s someone from the student council.” Eli’s expression changed to a serious one before she turned around and started walking away. “I have to go take care of this.”

“Why didn’t they text me?” Honoka asked, confused. “I’m the student council president now.”

“Maybe Umi-chan will know.” Kotori said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Wait!” Honoka crossed her arms in irritation as Eli started to walk away. Eli paused, looking back inquisitively. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Eli let out a long sigh before returning to where she was, resting one of her hands on Honoka’s shoulder before closing the gap between them.

Hiroe’s eyes widened in horror as she watched Eli’s lips brush against Honoka’s with the orange haired girl quickly returning the kiss. She knew the timeline like it was the back of her own hand and she knew Eli and Honoka weren’t a thing. It had always been Honoka and Umi. At least she was sure that it always had been. They were her parents. “I-I have to go.”

“Hiroe-san!”

Honoka broke away from the kiss and looked to the side just as Hana stood up but because of the bushes she only saw the brown haired girl’s hair. “Hiroe…where have I heard that name before?”

\---

“Hiroe-san?” Hana spoke softly as she and Tama finally found the older girl by herself, swinging slightly back and forward on a swing set. She couldn’t even imagine how it felt to see one of her parents kissing someone else, someone she would have known in the future. “T-This isn’t our timeline.”

“I know.” Hiroe replied with tears flooding thick and fast down her cheeks. “It’s still hurts. It isn’t right.”

Tama took in a deep breath before she walked over to Hiroe, sitting on the free swing next to the older girl. “Hana-chan. You go to the ice cream shop, me and Hannen-chan will go to the school and send Eiko-chan and Kamu-chan you’re way.”

“O-okay.” Hana nodded slowly, disappointed in herself that she couldn’t do anything to help Hiroe. She had been helped so many times by Hiroe and everyone else and she hadn’t been able to repay them. “G-good luck.”

\----

“Damn it, Nico.” Eli let out a long sigh as she walked quickly down one of the hallways of the school looking at her phone at the same time. She was supposed to be meeting up with Nozomi after school but thanks to Nico going on a warpath she couldn’t. She stopped as she reached the end of the hallway and pressed send on the message. Even if she was with Honoka, Nozomi was still her best friend and one of the people she loved spending time with.

Eli looked up in confusion as she noticed two girls looking terrified, assuming Nico had been past. Even she had heard about the joke that Nico is a mother and it didn’t matter if it was hurting Nico’s feelings or not, she couldn’t let Nico walk around the school terrorising other students. She may not be the student council president anymore but she still loved the school.

She picked up her pace, breaking into a slow jog as she passed the two girls, turning around the corner. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw Rin stood in between Nico and two other students.

“I don’t give a damn if one of them is younger! Everyone’s laughing at me because of her!” Nico bellowed, about to move around Rin until Eli came to stand in front of her too. “Damn it…”

Eli stood in front of Tama and Hiroe with her arms spread to her side, glaring at Nico. She knew Nico had anger problems and the fact that she could fight didn’t help, but going after a first year was too far. 

“I-I’m sorry.” Tama stuttered on her words, tears flooding thick and fast down her cheeks. “It’s-it’s just that you look so much like my mom and it slipped out.”

Nico took a step back and let out a long sigh. What the hell was she doing? When did she start terrorising first and third years? She’s just as bad as a bully. “Listen...damn it, I’m sorry.”

“Okay!” Tama smiled widely, her mood taking a complete 180 turn, almost like she hadn’t even been crying in the first place. “You’re forgiven.”

“Nico.” Eli said in a firm voice, turning her attention back to Nico as she crossed her arms in front of her. “Even if this is fixed, we still need to have a long talk with the guidance counselor about your behaviour.”

“...Fuck.”

Hiroe’s eyes widened in horror as they looked past the conversation Eli and Nico were having to two men. They were both large and muscular men with shaved heads, dressed in black suits. “Tama!”

“What?” Tama questioned, following where Hiroe was looking until she spotted the two men. “Aw shit. What the hell is Trinity doing here?!”

Rin looked on in confusion as the first and third years rushed away and hid inside the nearby cleaning storage room. She knew Nico scared Tama but that was before. “Weird, nya.”

“Excuse me.”

Eli, Nico and Rin looked to the side in confusion as the two men in suits approached them, stopping near them.

“We’re looking for two girls. They look like this.” One of the men announced, holding up pictures of Hana, Tama, Karumi, Eiko and Hiroe with only a couple looking familiar to Nico and Eli. “Have you seen them?”

“Why?” Nico questioned with her hands in her pockets. “What did they do? I mean it’s clear you guys aren’t the police so why are you looking for them?”

Eli chose to stay quiet and let Nico deal with the men. She had met Tama and Hiroe before, Hana too. She liked to think that she was a good judge of character and she was sure they were all good people.

“That has nothing to do with you. Do you know where they are or not?” 

“Yeah.” Nico replied with a sigh, knowing they were in the cleaning storage room. She wasn’t good with people but she knew she needed to pay back when she did to the first and third year girls she terrorised. She smiled widely and took a step closer to the men, staring at them in their eyes. “But it’s got nothing to do with you.”

“Whatever, protect them if you want. We’ll get them eventually.” Of the men replied with a scoff, turning away from the three girls and walked away. 

Nico scowled. “What the hell was that about?”

“I don’t know.” Eli hummed in thought before she approached the cleaning storage room, opening it. “It’s safe, you can come out…”

Eli frowned in confusion as she opened the door fully, surprised to see no one in the room. She let out a long sigh as she noticed the small window near the ceiling was ajar, assuming they escaped through it. “Something’s going on here. We should look for them.”

“Agreed, nya.” Rin didn’t know why but for some reason she was really worried about the two girls, especially for Tama. She didn’t know why but there was something about Tama that reminded her of herself and Nico.

\---

“Eiko! Eiko!” 

Eiko turned around at the sound of two voices calling her name, surprised to see Tama and Hiroe sprinting towards her in panic. “What’s wrong?”

Tama stopped short of almost hitting Eiko, trying her best to catch her breath before she took a quickly glance behind them. It looked like Eli, Nico and Rin had lost sight of them. “They’re...here. They...followed us.”

“Who?” Hana questioned, already panicking about the situation. As if things weren't already bad enough seeing her father meeting someone else the way he was supposed to meet her mom, there was something else wrong. “What happened?”

“Trinity...are here.” Hiroe explained in the middle of catching her breath. Unlike Tama, she was better at recovering from exercise since she use to do them a lot in gym class. “They appeared at the school, looking for us.”

“What school?” Eiko questioned in a disapproving voice, crossing her arms even if she found it strange that she was telling off someone older than her. “Please don’t tell me you did what I think you did.”

Tama winced, knowing her answer wasn’t going to make Eiko happy. “O-Otonokizaka...Academy.” 

Eiko took in a deep breath, putting her head in her hands as she paced around Karumi. “What were you thinking?!”

Everyone jumped at Eiko’s sudden raised voice. It was the first time any of them had seen or heard of her raising her voice before. I was the first time they had ever seen her really angry too.

“I-I wanted to see my mom.” Tama explained, looking down at the floor playing sheepishly with her fingers. 

“And that’s why Nozomi was at the ice cream shop, messing up the first meeting between Hana’s parents.” Eiko let out a long sigh, letting herself calm down as Kamuri slipped her smaller hand into Eiko’s, squeezing tight. “W-what happened with Trinity?”

“Nico-chan covered for us as we escaped through the window in the cleaning closet.” Tama explained, sitting on a cardboard box nearby. “As soon as we saw them we left.”

“How did they even find us?” Hana questioned as she started to panic again, almost having a panic attack. “I knew we shouldn’t have used the watch, our parents told us not to but we didn’t listen and now we ruined everything…”

“Hana!” Eiko exclaimed, getting Hana’s attention. She smiled softly, letting go of Karumi’s hand so she could pull Hana closer, wrapping she small brown haired girl in a warm embrace. “We’re going to be okay.”

“What...did they look like?” Karumi questioned, tilting her head.

Eiko frowned in confusion before she realised why Karumi asked what they looked like. “Did they have the glowing bracelets things on like they did in our time?”

“No.” Tama answered quickly, a grin appearing on her face. “They had shaven heads and black suits on.”

“That’s them from this time, so how did they know we were here?” Hiroe questioned but no matter how hard she thought she kept on thinking of the same answer. “You don’t think someone else from our time came back to tell them about us?”

“That’s the only way they could have known.” Hana answered in a soft voice, thinking about everyone who knew about what they were planning. “I don’t like this. Can we please go home?”

“Sure. Everyone, hold onto me.” Eiko answered, choosing to forget about Trinity until they returned to their own timeline. “Time jump in three, two, one!”

‘Time singularity detected. A fatal error had occurred.’ A robotic girl voice announced from the watch, stopping the countdown on the screen at 0.01 seconds remaining.

“What?” Eiko questioned before the watch sudden started smoking, a tiny explosion blasting the watch from Eiko’s wrist. “W-what just happened?”

All five of the girls looked on in horror as they all stared at the broken Time Jump watch crumbled on the back alley floor. Their only way to get home was nothing more than a pile of rubble on the floor.

“We’re stuck here?!” Hana questioned, starting to hyperventilate. “We can’t go back home. I want to see my parents again. I want to see Onee-chan again!”

“Hana-chan, breath into this!” Tama rushed to Hana, kneeling in front of her with a brown paper bag.

Hana nodded and quickly took a hold of the bag, about to breath into it. “There’s someone else's vomit in this...I’m going to be sick.”

“Everyone calm down.” Eiko announced loud enough to get everyone’s attention. Eiko took in a shaky deep breath, trying to keep her strong facade up in front of everyone else. “I know how to build it. My...mom. I saw the blueprints and memorised them. I can rebuild it.”

“Doesn’t it need plutonium as a power source?” Hiroe questioned in a soft voice, keeping Hana in her sight. The last thing she wanted to see was one of her best friends to have a panic attack. “I don’t think school students can get something by that by ourselves.”

“So who do we trust?” Tama added, sitting on the floor next to Hana who was resting on a wooden box for some reason still holding onto the paper bag with vomit in it. “You can put that down, Hana-chan.”

Hana nodded, realising she had still been holding onto the bag. “Oh, right…”

Eiko smiled and shook her head as Hana rested the bag on the floor next to her, the small brown haired girl reminding her so much of her father. Her eyes widened as she thought of an idea. The timeline was already messed up so maybe they could use that. “Our parents.”

“But they’re not here.” Karumi added, moving so she was in the usural held position with Eiko.

Eiko smiled, wrapping her arms around Karumi tightly. “Not our parents exactly, but our parents.”

“I still don’t follow.” Hana raised her hand into the air, surprised to see that Tama and even Hiroe didn’t understand what Eiko was talking about. “How are we going to get our parents help but not our parents help? My head hurts.”

“We’ll get the past version of our parents to help.” Eiko explained as she pulled out her phone. It was starting to get late. “We need to tell them the truth, but not all of them. We’ll decide later so let’s go find somewhere more fitting.”

Hiroe nodded slowly. She guessed that a random back alley wouldn’t be the best place to tell someone that they had children who came back in time to see them and got stuck. She just hoped that their parents would listen to what they have to say.

 

\---

“Hana, stop staring.”

Hana blushed at Eiko’s gentle reminder and ducked down slightly in her seat. She hadn’t meant to stare but she wanted to know what Honoka, Kotori and Hanayo were talking about. They seem to be wrapped up completely in their conversation as they slowly ate their ice cream. “I-I wasn’t staring.”

“You were.” Kamuri piped up from Eiko’s side before she ate another spoonful of ice cream. 

Hana glanced toward Eiko. “Don’t you find it...weird? Watching our parents when they were our age? It’s like...they’re not supposed to be like this.”

“It is strange.” Eiko said thoughtfully, casting a glance over to the three Muse members sitting at the other table. “The entire situation is strange really, Hana.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have used the watch.” Hana fretted anxiously, not for the first time. “We don’t even know if we can get back.”

“We can, we just need to give the watch some time to charge.” Eiko said patiently, accustomed to Hana’s worrying now. “We’ll use it the same way we did before. Everything will be fine as long as Tama doesn’t mess things up in this timeline.”

Hana paled at the thought. “But Tama isn’t here with us now. Hiroe won’t be able to keep her from doing anything.”

“Tama knows the rules. Hiroe will just remind her.” Eiko said patiently. “Relax, nothing is going to go wro-”

“OH! Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” 

Hana looked up at the sound of a male’s voice only to see Nozomi stagger backward, the front of her school shirt covered in something that looked like milkshake. Her eyes widened when she noticed her dad was standing in front of Nozomi, the lid of the disposable cup he was holding having fallen off. It seemed the two had collided as they’d been about to pass each other. 

Raven quickly put down his milkshake and grabbed a handful of napkins from the table, pushing them toward Nozomi. 

“Nozomi-chan, what are you doing here?!” Honoka exclaimed, standing up from the table with a bright smile. It slipped away when she noticed the state of Nozomi’s shirt. “What happened?”

“I’m sorry.” Raven said again. He glared at Saya who was sitting at the table, laughing loudly. “It was an accident!”

“Convenient accident. Her shirt is practically transparent now.” Saya said, raising an eyebrow. She knew that hadn’t been Raven’s intention but she couldn’t help but want to tease him. 

“This isn’t right…” Hana mumbled, her brow furrowed in confusion. 

Raven looked down, noticing the front of Nozomi’s shirt was soaked and see through. He hurriedly looked away. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He took off his jacket, offering it to Nozomi. “Here, you can use this. For your um…”

“Boobs.” Saya finished with a smirk as she stood from the table. She went to join Raven in front of Nozomi. “My name’s Saya. This is Raven. Let us buy you a drink or something to apologize.”

“I’ll buy it.” Raven said quickly, glancing between Saya and Nozomi. “It was my fault.”

“I wasn’t watching where I was going either.” Nozomi hesitantly took Raven’s jacket, tugging it on only to cringe at the fact that she was still wearing her wet shirt. She turned away from the two, toward the booth Honoka, Hanayo and Kotori were sitting in and drew her arms into the jacket. 

“What’s she doing?” Raven whispered in confusion to Saya. 

“Wait a minute…” Saya answered knowingly. 

“That’s better.” Nozomi turned back to them, dropping her sodden shirt in her bag. “Maybe I could take your number to get this back to you later?”

“Huh?” Raven asked blankly. 

Kotori let out a low whistle while Saya smirked and nudged Raven. “She wants your number.”

“HUH?!”

“Not like that.” Nozomi said with a roll of her eyes. “Just to get the jacket back to you. Hey, do you two want to join us? The booth is big enough.”

“Oh, um...sure. I’ll go get this replaced.” Raven answered, looking down at his drink. “Did you…?”

“Chocolate parfait. Thanks.” Nozomi said, flashing Raven a grateful smile. She slid into the booth next to Honoka and Kotori as Raven went to pay. Saya sat down across from her. 

“I’m Honoka.” Honoka said, holding her hand up in a wave. “This is Kotori-chan and this is Hanayo-chan.”

“Nice to meet you.” Saya said, assuming they’d heard her say her own name. 

“So why are you here, Nozomi?” Honoka asked curiously as she turned to Nozomi. “I thought you were meeting Eli.”

“I was but she’s doing something with Nico. Something about Nico trying to find one of the new girls.” Nozomi said, shrugging her shoulders. “So I decided to come here.”

Honoka looked puzzled for a moment before her expression cleared in realization. “Oh right. I wonder why she wants to find the new girls. I mean they seem nice and all but usually Nico-chan doesn’t care about things like that.”

“She’s talking about us.” Hana whispered to Eiko and Kamuri. “We met them in the library this morning. We told them we’re students at their school, remember?”

Eiko sighed disdainfully but she couldn’t bring herself to get angry with Hana again. 

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask Elichi later.” Nozomi said with a slight frown as she realized that Honoka was right. She looked up as Raven arrived back at the table with a milkshake in one hand and a chocolate parfait in the other. 

“Thanks.” Nozomi smiled up at him as he set the ice cream down in front of him. 

“I’m sorry about your shirt.” Raven said apologetically as he sat down across from Nozomi, next to Saya. “It was an accident, I swear.”

“Don’t worry. At least I got something out of it.”

“His number?” Kotori quipped with a smirk, causing Nozomi to roll her eyes. 

“You know I’m not interested in guys.” Nozomi glanced at Saya briefly as she said that, earning herself a raised eyebrow at the look. “So where do you two go to school?”

“Akihabara.” Saya answered without hesitation. “It’s not far from the train station. I take it you…” She didn’t manage to finish her sentence before the door was thrown open and two bald men stepped inside. She frowned slightly, noticing them looking around. 

“Eiko-chan!” Hana exclaimed in a whisper as she ducked her head. 

“Don’t draw attention to us, it’ll be fine.” Eiko shrunk down in her seat though she knew there was no way the men wouldn’t see them. 

“Eiko…” Kamuri gripped Eiko’s sleeve as the men turned to look at them. 

“There they are.” The taller man said, starting hurriedly toward the table. 

“On three we’re going to run.” Eiko whispered, slowly standing. “One...two...three…” She threw herself forward on the count of three, her shoulder impacting the stomach of one of the men. He fell and she grabbed Kamuri’s hand, racing toward the door. She could hear Hana behind as they rushed past the other agent. 

“GET THEM!” The man on the floor exclaimed loudly as he got up. “I don’t care if you have to shoot them, just get them under control.”

“Right!” The agent turned just as Saya got up from the table. He bumped into her and tried to push her aside but Raven got up after, purposely bumping the man with his shoulder. 

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Raven lied as he stood next to Saya. 

“Why are you chasing after those girls?” Saya asked directly, narrowing her eyes. “It’s pretty creepy if you ask me.”

“Nobody asked you. And stay out of our way.” The man who’d been knocked down said, sidestepping Saya and Raven. His friend followed him quickly, both heading for the door. 

“Hopefully that gave them enough time to get away.” Saya said, staring at the door in confusion. “Hey, maybe we should…”

“Follow? Yeah.” Raven agreed with a nod of his head. The two quickly made their way to the door. 

“Wait, I’m coming too!” Nozomi exclaimed, getting up. 

“Me too.” Honoka jumped from her seat and together with Nozomi she took off running for the door. 

“Honoka-chan!” Kotori exclaimed in concern. She glanced at Hanayo who was staring at her with worry. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“B-But…” Hanayo watched helplessly as Kotori left too, sprinting from the shop. 

\-----

Eiko could hear the pounding of feet against the pavement behind her, not only those of Hana but those of the two men following them. She reached behind her to grab Hana’s hand and turned sharply into an alleyway. Maybe if they could take a shortcut onto the next street they could get away. 

Her stomach sank as she sprinted down the alleyway only to see a brick wall ahead of them. She had used the shortcut so many times to get to school. There wasn’t a wall there in their own time. She veered to a stop, looking left and right in a frantic attempt to find another way out. She didn’t see one. 

Hearing footsteps approaching behind her, she turned around, pushing Hana and Kamuri behind her. 

“Finally.” One of the bald agents gasped, stopping with his colleague. “Just hand over the watch and you won’t be hurt.”

“We need it!” Hana exclaimed, clutching Eiko’s arm as tightly as she could. “Leave us alone!”

“So we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.” The other man said. He looked a little bit too happy about that in Eiko’s opinion. “Arai, get the little ones. I’ll take the older one.”

Eiko growled angrily at the thought of these men ganging up on her friends. She just hoped that Tama and Hiroe were safe. 

“HEY!”

The sound of a male shouting loudly caught the attention of Eiko, Hana and Kamuri as well as the agents. They glanced toward the entrance of the alleyway to see Raven and Saya sprinting toward them, Nozomi, Honoka and Kotori a few feet behind them. 

Raven and Saya bypassed the two agents, positioning themselves directly in front of Eiko. 

“Why are you chasing these kids?” Saya demanded, slightly out of breath. She noticed Nozomi, Honoka and Kotori stop behind the two men, effectively boxing them in. “What did they do to you?”

“What? Look, just get out of the way. We’re taking them…”

“Do you know their parents?” Nozomi chimed in skeptically from behind them. 

“NO. Get out of our way or we will make you move!” The agent who’d been referred to as Arai growled angrily. 

“We’re not moving.” Raven replied stoically. He glanced sidelong at Saya. “If these guys want a fight maybe I should call Chrom and Uni. They’re in the area, right?”

Saya nodded, her eyes fixed to the guards. “It’s not very fair, two grown men ganging up on highschool students. It’s only right for us to even the odds.”

“I can call my mom.” Kotori piped up, her phone already held in her hand. “She’s the principal of our school.”

The two agents shared a look before the taller one nodded. Angrily, they turned and barged past, one of them brushing roughly past Kotori as they went. 

“WATCH IT!” Honoka yelled after them, steadying Kotori. 

Eiko visibly relaxed, breathing a huge sigh of relief while Kamuri hugged her from the side and Hana continued to grasp her arm. “Thank you. I really thought they had us there…”

Saya and Raven turned to Eiko while Honoka, Nozomi and Kotori made their way over. 

“Why were those guys chasing you?” Raven asked in confusion.

“Do you know them?” Honoka asked curiously, in silent agreement with Raven. 

“No, not...not exactly.” Eiko hesitated for a moment, torn. She didn’t know what to do. She bit her lip and sighed heavily. She didn’t have a choice. They needed help. “We can explain.”

\-----

“Come on in, my parents are still away.” Nozomi spoke as she slipped off her shoes just inside the front door before she walked into the apartment. She watched as Honoka and everyone else walked in the house, frowning in confusion as she noticed three people were missing. She looked back towards the door, surprised to see Raven, Saya and Hana standing awkwardly at the door. “That mean you three too.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Saya replied, sheepishly taking a step through the front door. She removed her shoes as Hana did the same thing, turning around when she noticed Raven hadn’t stepped in. She furrowed her brow in confusion at Raven who was standing at the door looking at his phone. “What are you doing?”

Raven hummed before he tapped on the screen, returning the phone to his pocket. “Making sure Uni, Chrom and Izetta know we’re going to be late.”

“Good idea.” Saya nodded before Raven took a step into the apartment, earning himself a stern groan from Saya. “Shoes.”

“Oh, right.”

“Are you two coming or not?” Honoka questioned with a loud voice from the living room, already finding herself a nice seat on the couch next to Kotori. She looked towards the corner at Eiko and the other girls just as Hana stopped next to them. They were talking too quietly for her to hear but she could tell from the look on Eiko’s face that it was serious.

“I wonder what’s keeping Maki-chan?” Kotori questioned quietly to herself, looking down at the phone resting on her lap. She knew she was coming and that she was bringing Rin with them but they should have arrived by now. “Maybe I should go out to look for her?”

Honoka looked to the seat next and to Kotori before she rested her hand on the ashen haired girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry Kotori-chan. Maki-chan probably won’t be long.”

Kotori let out a long sigh and nodded. She guessed the two bald men going after Hana and the other got to her more than she thought. “You’re probably right. Thanks Honoka-chan.”

Nozomi let out a long sigh and lowered herself gently onto the couch in the gap between Kotori and Honoka. “Now we just need to wait for Maki-chan and Rin-chan. Why couldn’t I tell Elichi or Nicocchi again?” 

Kotori whimpered a little as she looked at Nozomi sitting next to her. She didn’t mind Nozomi sitting next to her but she was trying to save the seat for Maki. “I...wanted to sit next to Maki-chan.”

“Don’t worry.” Honoka smiled, getting closer to Kotori so she was whispering. “I-I’ll move along when Maki-chan arrives.”

“Thank you.” Kotori smiled softly as Raven and Saya walked into the room. She and Saya eyes locked for a moment before Saya smiled and nodded, sitting on the floor in front of the couch.

Eiko turned around, doing a quick head count. They still needed two more people. “Because we need to control how many people know our secret. I’m sorry.”

Eiko looked away before her eyes fixed onto Saya for a few moments. Even though in the future Saya was considered an aunt to Hana and Isla, she would have still prefered the brown haired 16 year old not to be there even if she also considered her like an aunt.

Nozomi nodded before she looked down towards Raven who was seated on the floor just in front of her. “You don’t take much care of your hair, do you?”

Raven perked up as he felt Nozomi’s fingers running through his hair. “Well, I wash it but besides that not much.”

“It’s a shame. You have really soft hair.” Nozomi smiled as she thought of an idea to pass the time. She turned to Honoka and gestured towards the hairbrush on the side table next to the couch. “I’m going to brush your hair for you, is that okay?”

“Yeah, and hopefully it pays you back for the ice cream I dropped onto you.” Raven chuckled, watching as the brush was passed from Honoka to Kotori and then to Nozomi. He smiled softly as she started brushing his hair from the front of his head to the back. “You know, I might just have to get you to be my hair brusher.”

Hana looked on, trying her best to hide her disdain as Nozomi chuckled at Raven’s joke. She remembered that her mom use to do that for her dad all the time and seeing someone else doing it to him for some reason didn’t sit right with her.

Nozomi stood up at the sound of knocking at her front door. She assumed it was Maki and Rin but just be to sure she decided to look through the peephole. She frowned in confusion as Rin stood in front of the door with her eye pressed against it. “You can’t see through Rin-chan.”

Rin tilted her head as she took a step back, waiting for the door to open. “Really, nya. I thought it was just broken.”

Maki just let out a sigh of irritation as Rin bounced into the apartment the instant it was open. “What’s this all about anyway?”

“I don’t know.” Nozomi shrugged, walking back into the living room with Maki close behind. “Whatever it is, it’s apparently important.”

Saya furrowed her brow in confusion as she noticed Hiroe glancing at her from time to time with a worried expression on her face. “Is something wrong?”

Hana entered the room from the kitchen just as Saya asked her question and turned towards Hiroe. She wasn’t sure what was happening but she had a rough idea. 

Eiko cleared her throat awkwardly before she answered in Hiroes place. “Don’t take this the wrong way but we would have prefered it to be with only the people we needed.”

Saya nodded slowly and began to get up. “That’s fine, I get it.”

“I don’t.” Raven added quickly and grasped softly onto the cuff of Saya’s sleeve before he stood up off the floor, much to Nozomi’s dismay.. “Saya’s my best friend, sorry but if Saya’s going then so am I?”

“No one’s needs to go anywhere.” Nozomi announced as she stood up and turned her attention to Eiko. “I haven’t know Raven-kun or Saya-chan very long but I do know that they’re very nice people. They chased after the you to make sure you were all safe and got me this nice t-shirt for spilling a milkshake on mine.”

Hiroe nodded slowly and took a step towards Saya. “I-I’m sorry. I-I’m just a little jumpy I guess. Please stay.”

Saya smiled awkwardly and nodded, sitting on the floor. “I-if you’re sure.”

Nozomi smiled as Raven sat on the floor again, letting her continue to brush his hair. His attention quickly shifted to the orange haired girl next to him and the red haired girl sitting behind him on the couch. “Oh, I’m Raven and this is Saya.”

Saya moved forward a little so she could see past Raven and nodded. “Hi.”

“Hi, nya. My name’s Hoshizora Rin. It’s nice to meet you.” Rin smiled widely before her attention shifted to Maki. It was expected that the red haired girl wouldn’t socialise with the two new people much. “She’s Nishikino Maki.”

“Right. Everyone's here.” Tama announced as she clapped her hands together, standing in front of the tv with Eiko, Hana, Hiroe and Kaurmi. “We can get this started.”

“What is this about?” Honoka questioned, shuffling a little forward on the couch. “To be honest, we all barely know you all but you act as if you’ve all known us for a long time.”

“Yeah, but it’s hard to explain and you probably won’t believe us.” Hana spoke up in a shaky voice. She very much doubt that they would believe that they were their children from the future. It sounded like it was the story of a film.

“You won’t know unless you try.” Honoka exclaimed with a smile, more curious about what they were going to tell them than if she was going to believe her.

Hiroe took a step and took in a deep breath. “This is going to be something really weird so please don’t freak out.”

Maki and Kotori turned to each other in confusion before they looked back at Hiroe. “Okay?”

“W-we’re…” Hiroe stuttered as she locked eyes with Honoka. Her mother was the person she use to always call or go to when things got too hard for her to handle. She found it hard to seperate Honoka from her future version. She turned around quickly to Eiko, trying to hide her tears from the younger versions of their parents.

Eiko smiled softly and took a step forward, resting her hand on Hiroe’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Sorry...Eiko.” Hiroe muttered before she took a step back, hanging her head in disappointment. She had always needed Eiko to help her with stuff even though she was the older person.

“Okay, so I’m not going to dance around it any longer.” Eiko took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them. “We...all of us, are you children from the future. And we’ve made a big mistake.”

TBC...


End file.
